Pope Francis: 'A Prayer That Is Not Courageous Is Not A Real Prayer'

Reflects on Praying With Insistence in Homily At Morning Mass

During his daily morning Mass, Pope Francis highlighted the importance of courage in prayer to discover the true grace the comes with it. The Holy Father’s homily reflected on Christ’s call to pray with insistence in today’s Gospel.

“How do we pray? Do we pray like this, out of habit, piously but unbothered, or do we put ourselves forward with courage before the Lord to ask for the grace, to ask for what we're praying for?,” the Pope asked the faithful present.

“Courage in prayer: a prayer that is not courageous is not a real prayer. The courage to trust that the Lord listens to us, the courage to knock on the door.”

The Pope went on to say that it is we that must “ask, seek, and knock” at the heart of God. This “knocking on the heart of God”, he continued, “is a great thing” because God gives us His Holy Spirit, that is Himself.

“Our prayer, if it is courageous, receives what it asks for, but also that which is more important: the Lord,” the Pope said.

Referencing another Gospel in which only one of ten lepers returned to thank Christ for healing him, the Holy Father said that some people “receive the grace and then go away.” The Pope stressed the importance to pray with the courage of faith, which brings us to ask “even for those things that prayer does not dare hope for: God Himself.

"We ask for a grace, but we don't dare say, 'But come Yourself to bring it to me.' We know that a grace is always brought by Him: It is He Himself who comes and brings it to us,” the Holy Father said.

“Let us not embarrass ourselves by taking the grace and not recognizing Him who brings it to us, Him who gives it to us: The Lord. That the Lord may give us the grace of giving us Himself, always, in every grace.

Pope Francis concluded his homily saying that in doing so, we may recognize Him and offer Him praise like those who sick and healed by Christ.